Elgar Parishad case: Mumbai court extends Anand Teltumbde's NIA custody till 25 April; activist was arrested on 14 April

Mumbai: A special court in Mumbai on Saturday extended till 25 April the National Investigation Agency (NIA) custody of Dalit scholar and activist Anand Teltumbde, arrested in the Elgar Parishad-alleged Maoist links case. [caption id=“attachment_8259931” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Anand Teltumbde was sent to five-day NIA custody on Tuesday. PTI[/caption] Teltumbde was arrested by the NIA on 14 April after he surrendered before it following the Supreme Court's directives. Teltumbde, the grandson-in-law of Dalit icon Dr BR Ambedkar, was produced before a special NIA court judge AT Wankehede after his remand ended on Saturday. Special public prosecutor Prakash Shetty submitted that his custody for seven more days was needed as the agency is yet to complete its probe. The court allowed its plea. The agency told the court that it wanted to verify with the accused the contents of his social media account. Voluminous documents have been recovered from the co- accused in the case, which need to be verified with him, it said. The agency said that the accused had received funds from the CPI (Maoist) and there was a “deep-rooted conspiracy” between him and unidentified persons associated with the banned terrorist organisation, which needed to be probe. Besides Teltumbde, civil rights activist Gautam Navlakha, a co-accused in the case, had also surrendered before the NIA in Delhi on 14 April. His anticipatory bail plea was also rejected by the apex court. He is currently in the custody of the investigating agency in the National Capital. Teltumbde, Navlakha and nine other civil rights activists have been booked under the stringent provisions of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) for having alleged Maoist links and conspiring to overthrow the government. The activists were booked initially by Pune Police following violence that erupted at Koregaon Bhima in the district.According to police, the activists made inflammatory speeches and provocative statements at the Elgar Parishad meet held in Pune on 31 December, 2017, which triggered the violence the next day. The police also said that these activists were active members of banned Maoist groups. The case was later transferred to NIA.